Garrett Telle
Garrett Telle was a contestant on Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen. He ranked in 5th place. Personality Garrett started off as one of the strongest links on the blue team, and was a nice guy, often cracking jokes and blissfully whistling and humming during service, as well as developing a friendship with Keith. However, he began a downward spiral after Heather joined the blue team, and began to irate over small reasons (including flipping off Ramsay and the red team while they were in a limousine after losing a team challenge), as well as not being able to bounce back from his mistakes, leading to his elimination. Season 2 Episode 1 During the intro, Garret was one of the three chefs seen to compete. The twelve contestants arrived in Hell's Kitchen on a bus and were greeted by Jean-Philippe. They celebrated with some champagne glasses, got to know each other, and had a first look at the restaurant. Afterwards, Ramsay walked through the hallway, opened the dining room doors, and greeted the contestants by introducing himself and announcing that only one of them was going to win the competition. The only way that person would win though was to impress him, and asked all of them to cook their signature dishes. During the Signature Dish Challenge, Garret was the eighth person to have his dish judged by Ramsay. When he went up, Ramsay asked him where he learned how to cook, and he said in prison during his sentence. He explained that he was arrested for stolen checks, served five years in prison, and declared he would be an asshole if Ramsay was one to him. He made an unknown meat dish, but before Ramsay tasted it, the latter called down Gabe and had him taste his dish. Wanting to use that to showcase his weakness, Gabe told Ramsay it was overcooked, but while he accused him of lying, Ramsay confirmed Gabe’s opinion by calling the meat dry, praising the latter for his honesty. After the challenge, he was placed in the blue team because Ramsay declared that for the first time ever, the teams are divided by gender, men in the blue team, women in the red team. When they were at the dorms, he arrogantly believed that the men would become the strong team. The blue team finished prep hours after the red team. During dinner service, Garrett was on the dessert station. He was not seen that night, and service was shut down by Ramsay after three hours, when customers started shouting "I want some food!" in the dining room. The blue team won the dinner service. After elimination, he knew why it was called Hell’s Kitchen, as it was trying to break him. Episode 2 Back at the dorms, Garrett talked with Gabe about eliminating the women one by one before eliminating each other. The next morning, after only two hours of sleep, the contestants were woken up by Sous Chefs Scott and Mary-Ann playing cowbells at 5:24 AM. They were told to go outside immediately, and once outside at the loading area, Ramsay recalled how the previous service was embarrassing. Afterwards, Ramsay wanted them to have a good idea on how much food they wasted last night as a restaurant would never survive with a lot of waste. To get his point across, Ramsay ordered the chefs to jump into the dumpsters and pull out all the garbage from last night. After that, Ramsay told the contestants that he did not want another large amount of waste in the competition ever again. Now that the chefs understood the lesson, Ramsay ordered them to clean up because they stunk. During the Perfect Steak Cut Challenge, Garrett wanted wanted to defeat the women even more, and was the second chef from the blue team to have his attempts judged. He could only get one accepted, and the blue team lost the challenge 11-12. They were punished cutting all the steaks for the next dinner service, as a steak special would be featured. During the punishment, he felt that even though they dropped their guards against the women, they would beat them in service with more intensity. During dinner service, Garrett was on the fish station. After 45 minutes, he reached over Gabe and helped him on appetizers, answering for him. Apart from that, he was not very noticed during that service, which was shut down by Ramsay after he made both teams have a look in the dining room to see it almost empty. The blue team team lost the dinner service, but because he was the only one in the team that did not have a bad performance, he was named "Best of the Worst" by Ramsay, and was asked to nominate two of his teammates for elimination. During deliberation, he deemed being “Best of the Worst” a double-edged sword, and said he could not nominate Keith for not being responsible for the problems in the kitchen. While Giacomo told him to to do what felt right to him, he tried to look at which of the three remaining men stunk the worse. However, he wanted to cut off the weak links if it would help him win the competition. Garrett nominated Giacomo and Tom for elimination, but Ramsay sent the latter back in line after his plea, told him that there was one more person he wanted to speak to, and brought Gabe up. While being dismissed, he felt that America should go to Las Vegas and bet their money on him because he was going to win. Episode 3 After realizing his nominations were backfired, Garrett compared their efficiency to a kick in the nut sack. During the Relay Challenge, Garrett was the last of his team to go. During the final 15 seconds relay, he misunderstood Keith and began making a third batch of fresh tortellinis. But, he successfully plated all three dishes for his team. The blue team lost the challenge 1-2, and was punished by participating in Laundry Day. During the punishment, he compared the task to his jobs in prison, and said it was that way he liked it. When the red team came back from their reward, he made a comment about how women should go back home to cook lunch for men. This infuriated Heather, and he had a talk with her about how he does not like to be disrespected. Before going to bed, he trash talked about the girls about how he was tired of the "men vs women" thing, and said he came to the competition to prove something to the entire world. During dinner service, Garrett was on the garnish station. On the first ticket, he was caught whistling, and Ramsay told him to stop. Later, he was whistling again, and Ramsay had to tell him one more time to stop. A half-hour later, he got a fresh pot of tomato sauce for Keith. solving his problem. Moments later, Ramsay made him switch to the appetizer station because of Giacomo's lie to Ramsay. Three hours into service, Ramsay shut down the kitchen after many frustrations from both sides. His team lost, and each member of the team was asked to nominate one person for elimination. Garrett nominated Tom, and received no votes for elimination. Episode 4 Back in the dorms, Garrett acknowledged the blue team would be better without Tom, who just confronted him by telling he had his back. The next morning, Garrett and the blue team welcomed Heather as a new teammate. After a trip to Los Angeles where the contestants went to Pink's Hot Dogs, they got back at the restaurant to prep the kitchen for the first lunch service of Hell's Kitchen. During the Lunch Service Challenge, on the first tickets, Garrett and Tom got into an argument because he was setting his station, which Tom did not appreciate. Heather quickly calmed the situation down. Despite this, the blue team completed their tickets in time, and celebrated their first completed service. The blue team was declared winners of the challenge after the children rated their food 9.85 out of 10, compared to the red team's 9.84. They were rewarded with a day at the amusement park in Santa Monica Beach, to feel like children again. During the reward, he made up with Heather and became friend with her. He also complotted with her and Keith to get rid of Tom because he was more holding them back. During prep, Garrett was very confident with the acquisition of Heather as a new teammate, and declared the blue team needed to win. During dinner service, Garrett was on the appetizer station. The first one he sent were unsalted, and Ramsay told him to taste his food before sending it. On his second attempt at the risotto, he finally succeeded and impressed Ramsay. However, it was short-lived as one of his customers sent a lobster spaghetti back to the kitchen because it was too cold. Ramsay schooled him about the tasting he did not do. When Ramsay asked him if he would like to return in prison, he took that like extra motivation, and was ready to bust his ass and show he deserves to be there. After he sent his last lobster spaghetti dish, the kitchen moved on to entrées. Two hours into service, after a lot of frustration in both kitchens and only half of the dining room served, Ramsay declared both teams losers, and told them to nominate one member each. He was not nominated for elimination. Episode 5 The next morning, Garrett tasted some fine-dining dishes, which included caviar, cheese fondue, pâté, and chicken kebab. After a few minutes, Ramsay revealed all those dishes were fake, and introduced the Blind Taste Test. During the challenge, he scored 2 points for his team by correctly guessing scrambled eggs and spinach. By missing the next two, he lost it for his team 6-7. He and his team were punished by cleaning both kitchens that were left as they were after the previous dinner service. During the punishment, he volunteered to get some champagne bottles to the photo shoot. When he arrived there, the women, especially Sara, were rubbing salt in the wound by showing him their pedicure, and Ramsay told him to get out as he was stinking. When he came back to tell what the winners were doing, he made his two teammates envious. During prep, Sous Chef Scott was nervous as the blue team was a man down compared to the red team. During dinner service, Garrett was on the meat station. When Heather put unordered spaghetti in a pot to cook and was schooled by Ramsay, he tried to comfort her by touching her shoulder. But she aggressively told him to not touch her, prompting him to say she should work with him and not against him. When Ramsay called the first ticket, he did not answer back, and Ramsay told his team he was already nervous and they have not even sent anything yet. Later, he received unwelcomed help from Heather, who was trying to redeem herself. But, he was more annoyed than anything because he felt she wanted to control what he was doing. After a while, because of his poor cooking, Ramsay asked him if he should change the name of the restaurant for Donkey's Kitchen. Much later, he accused Heather of screwing up his station when she sent the wrong number of quail orders, and making herself look good, while completely fucking his station up. An hour later, when Ramsay came for the last entrées of the blue kitchen, nothing came together and Ramsay schooled him and Keith about the communication and teamwork problems. Ramsay asked for the lamb sauce twice, before Garrett sent it. It became one of Ramsay's most famous rants, along with calling him a "fat useless sack of fucking yankee dankee doodle shite". Moments later, the kitchens were shut down because of Rachel's mistakes in the red kitchen, and his team was declared winners for serving more entrées than the red team. Episode 6 Back in the dorms, on the patio, Garret talked with Keith about how Heather is not as strong as she thinks. The next morning, Garrett woke up, along with the other contestants, by Sous Chef Scott and Maryann, who were holding megaphones, shouting all over the dorms, and telling them to get outside immediately with their jackets on. They were taken to the Grand Central Public Market in Los Angeles, where Ramsay explained the Three Course Meal Challenge. During the cooking part, the blue team was well organized as each of them chose a station, but Keith did not want to let to much responsibilities to Garrett, as he had the least amount of kitchen knowledge in the team. During the judging, Garrett went first, on the appetizer round. He presented a roasted corn scallop and shrimp bisque. Although Ramsay found the presentation nice, he found the shrimp tail very dangerous to leave on the plate as it was really sharp. His team lost the challenge, and had to take part of Delivery Day. He took that defeat very ungraciously as he felt his team should have won. When the red team went out for their reward, he flipped the bird to their limousine, unaware that Ramsay was inside it. The next morning, Ramsay reminded Garrett about the "bird-flipping" incident the previous night, and threatened him with elimination, by telling him he does not want to see that ever again. After that, Ramsay told both teams to come up with their own menus. During the making of the menus, he was shut down by Keith and Heather, which made him have a sour attitude during prep. During dinner service, Garrett was on the meat station. An hour into service, he sent a raw duck salad, and received help from Keith. But before he could redo his salad again, the truck horn was heard, and he, along with his teammates, was forced to do one more task of the punishment. All three of them raced outside and took in orders of wine. After that, he tried to redeem himself, but sent up another raw duck salad, forcing Ramsay to show him how to properly cook it. After, he caused a small fire, causing a disbelieved Ramsay to say "Welcome to Hell's Shithole". Despite a lot of struggle, he managed to help his team complete their side of the dining room for the first time, prompting Ramsay to order him and his teammates to take the red kitchen over, and finish service for them. His team won the dinner service, but Ramsay reminded Garrett that he is lucky to be on the same team as Heather and Keith, as he was the worst performer on his team, something with which he agreed. Episode 7 Back in the dorms, Garrett and his two teammates were talking about what was in store for them the next day. When Heather left the patio table, him and Keith promised that they would pick each other if one of them was to win an individual challenge. Before the next challenge, Ramsay announced the remaining five contestants would become one team, which was the black team. Garrett was the last one to receive his black jacket. After that, he went back to the dorms to change, along with his teammates. When they came down in the blue kitchen, Ramsay introduced the 10 Ingredient Challenge. For the challenge, he served a veal chop over prawns and mushrooms with saffron. After Ramsay asked him if he ever cooked veal before, he answered he did not very often. Ramsay declared the veal was cooked perfectly, and that his dish tasted good, but the saffron on the mushrooms was too much. He lost the challenge to Keith, and was even more furious when Keith broke his promise and did not pick him to go on the reward. He was punished by taking part of Bug Night, which was wrapping both kitchens for fumigation, and doing the fumigation himself, along with Sara and Heather. Before Keith and Virginia left for the airport, Garrett confronted his former best friend in the dorms, where he called him a liar. Keith told him that he did felt like shit, and apologized to him. He did not accept his apologies, and hoped the plane would crash. After the punishment, he told Heather how angry he was about the situation, and began telling the story of his difficult childhood, when he was put in an anger management program very young, and that he would never touch another human being because of that. The next morning, Keith and Virginia arrived from their reward, but while Virginia told more about the trip, Keith did not want to rub it in Garrett's face too much as he still felt bad about his decision. During prep, he was still furious because he felt Keith stabbed him in the back, but did not bother as he was professional enough to stay focused. During dinner service, Garrett was on the meat station. After an hour, he and Keith sent many entrées out to the dining room. But after that, he started struggling as he miscalculated the time he needed for the chicken to be ready, asking for three minutes when Sous Chef Maryann gave him one. When he sent raw chicken to the pass, Ramsay refused to send it and stated he could have killed someone. When he gave Ramsay an excuse, Ramsay found it unforgivable and made him switch stations with Keith. So, he was now on the fish station. On the last ticket, he was confused when Ramsay asked for carrots as his name had a similar pronunciation. After that, he served an unacceptable salmon as it was chewed and buckled, and Ramsay was furious when he did not answer back, and Ramsay told him to get a grip and start again. Moments later, he successfully redeemed himself when he successfully called and order back. The team rallied to complete service for the first time, and a proud Ramsay exclaimed "Alleluia!". When the final five were lined up, Ramsay reminded the lack of teamwork, despite the completed service. He told Garrett that if he had stayed on meat the whole night, they would not have finished at the moment. Keith was named "Best of the Worst". Garrett was Keith's second nominee for elimination, with Virginia being the first. He was eliminated for serving raw chicken, which Ramsay deemed unforgivable. He received a retrospective montage of his run during his exit interview. Ramsay's comment: "I'm trying to find someone here that deserves a restaurant. Each and every step of the way, Garrett fought me and his team. That's why he's not here any longer." Episode 10 When he returned for the last dinner service of the season, Garrett was Heather's last pick, after Rachel and Sara, and the last pick overall. That decision surprised and upset him, but he was not bitter about it as he was happy to be on Heather's team. During briefing time, he was very satisfied with the menu that Heather designed, claiming she was smart about it, and designed it for the team to succeed. The next day, during prep, he was extremely confident and motivated to give a good performance. During dinner service, Garrett was the only returning chef who was unnoticed, as he did not make any mistakes. He got the desserts out for his team at the end, and helped the team to finish service on a positive note. When the teams were lined up, Ramsay congratulate them and gave them a big round of applause. Heather eventually won the finals over Virginia. Nomination history Trivia *He is the second black jacket contestant to be eliminated on the first time being nominated, following Jimmy (Season 1) *He is the first contestant to have a criminal record prior to his appearance on the show. *After his appearance on the show, he continued cooking, produced short films, and was arrested four times between 2012 and 2016 for driving without a licence. Quotes *"Cook you bastards!" *"If I think Chef Ramsay's being an asshole to be an asshole, I'll be an asshole myself!" *"Watch out, girls!" *(About Ramsay finding a sharp shrimp tail in his soup) "If you order shrimp, guess what you automatically assume: that there's going to be a tail on there ol' GORDO!" *(After being eliminated) "Keith stabbed me in the back, but the fact is the chicken went out there undercooked, and now I'm leaving. First cooking job I had was in a jail. I'm still not gonna give up, but I wanted this more than anything." Category:Chef Category:Season 2 Category:Texans Category:Black Jacket Category:Final Service Brigade Category:5th Place